Beyeler looking forward to seeing Hassan in Pawtucket

Friday

PAWTUCKET — Asked about how his “offseason” has gone, Pawtucket manager Arnie Beyeler scoffs a bit at the very idea.

PAWTUCKET - Asked about how his "offseason" has gone, Pawtucketmanager Arnie Beyeler scoffs a bit at the very idea.

When your offseason day job is the same as your usual one, itdoesn't really count as an offseason, does it?

Beyeler spent this offseason in Arizona, managing the ScottsdaleScorpions of the Arizona Fall League.

The Scorpions didn't have the best performance on the field,finishing 14-22 despite boasting a roster that included BryceHarper, Mike Trout, Brandon Crawford and Hank Conger - the lastthree of which spent considerable time in the big leagues lastseason.

One of his Scorpions that Beyeler will likely see a lot more ofthis year is Alex Hassan. The outfielder had a standout season forDouble-A Portland in 2011, hitting .291 with a .404 on-basepercentage.

"He did a great job. I've never really been around Alex thatmuch other than spring training," said Beyeler at Pawtucket'swinter media day. "It was nice to watch him work and see himdevelop as a player, game-to-game. He's always shown a lot ofability, and it was great to be around him every day and see how hegoes about his business. There's a lot of potential, and hopefullywe get a chance to see him up here this year and keep himrolling."

Hassan had a solid fall, compensating for a .253 average with acharacteristically robust .382 on-base percentage. But for a playerlike Hassan, the fall league isn't about results so much as theeveryday experience. He was taken aback by just how much he learnedduring the relatively brief stay in Scottsdale.

"Arnie is a great baseball mind, and I learned a lot from himjust being out there. I didn't expect to learn as much as I did,"said Hassan. "I really worked on my mechanics hitting, which issomething that I needed to do and I got a lot of work in out there.I picked up a lot of little things, too, about playing theoutfield, a lot of stuff about running the bases that Arnie reallytaught me. It was a really valuable experience, and I was happy Igot the opportunity to go out there.

"You can't really replace experience. You can be told a bunch ofthings, but it takes going out and actually doing it and playing ingames and getting live reps to improve."

Hassan could be a big part of Pawtucket's plans this season.Pawtucket's lineup figures to be built around a pair of players whostarted last season in Portland - catcher Ryan Lavarnway and thirdbaseman Will Middlebrooks. First baseman Lars Anderson andshortstop Jose Iglesias are likely to return to Pawtucket, alongwith outfielders Daniel Nava and Che-Hsuan Lin. Luis Exposito willprobably split time behind the plate with Lavarnway (serving as thedesignated hitter when he's not donning the catcher's gear) andNate Spears and Brad Emaus may end up sharing time at secondbase.

With Ryan Kalish expected to miss the start of the season,Hassan could step in to the outfield. Juan Carlos Linares is alsoan option there.

The pitching staff is harder to project, largely because themajor-league staff is written in pencil at this point. With so manypitchers competing for big-league slots in the rotation andbullpen, it's impossible to tell who'll be on the outside lookingin at season's open. But most have adopted the same approach asHassan.

"I'm not too concerned about where I'm going to be playing," hesaid. "It could be out of my control. I'm going to go out and playhard, and where they tell me to play is where I'll play."

tbritton@providencejournal.com

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